Countdown to Christmas
4 - Empathy
- Feeling and Emotions do play a huge role in Politics. Populist are on the rise as we can see in many campaigns and election results all over Europe. They mostly address problems and offer no solutions. The way how they do it goes via that emotions that are mostly negative, emotions like fear or anger towards the ruling parties, the so-called establishment.
- In our liberal bubble, the power of those feelings was often not taken seriously. We tried to be rational and explained our policy a lot. But dealing with the feelings of the people, we have to be more empathic, we have to take those fears to account in our policy making process.
Fix You by the British band Coldplay stands out for me as a song that shows that empathy is more than just listening and reaction towards ones problems or fears. It is about capturing all emotions and reading between the lines. “When you get what you want, but not what you need” is one essential of the lyrics ending up in the chorus and the beautiful picture of the lights that will guide you home. Especially this shows us that each and every one can build a better world by being empathic and interested in their fellow citizens’ feelings. The planet earth is our home and we can only assure this place and our way of living together in our communities by making it a “home” for all of us united.
